Template stencils are well-known in the art as guides for artists who seek to draw or cut pre-determined shapes. A template usually comprises a semi-rigid piece of plastic, having a small thickness. The template is placed upon a sheet desired to be drawn upon or cut (hereinafter "a transfer sheet"). The face of the template can have a variety of different voids or cut-outs. In addition, the outer edges of the templates are often used as additional guides for the user. The interior cut-outs are given their shape by the interior edges of the template, which guide the writing or cutting instrument of a user along the path proscribed by the edge of the cut-out. The user draws or cuts along the outer or interior edges of the template and a drawn line or a cut line is created on the transfer sheet coinciding with the shape or pattern which the outer or interior edge of the template possessed.
It is typically a desired attribute of a stencil template to provide, without increasing the relative size of a stencil template, the greatest variety of shapes possible for the user. An increase in efficiency will exist if a single stencil template can provide a user with numerous shapes and patterns to implement. Therefore, as much of the template as possible should consist of outer and interior edges for the user to be guided by. However, the stencil must also retain its semi-rigidity so as not to be easily broken during normal usage and not to have its outer or interior edges deflect, and thereby cause the writing or cutting instrument to deviate from the edge's proscribed path, if the user's writing or cutting instrument pushes against the edge during usage. Therefore, a balance must be struck to provide the user with the maximum number of edges which define shapes or patterns while still retaining the semi-rigidity of the template.
Prior art templates usually provide means for aligning the template on the transfer sheet. The alignment guides which are commonly used consist of thin lines etched or drawn on to the template. The thin lines are located on the template so as to enable the user to line up the thin lines with reference lines or points on the transfer sheet. Because the thin alignment lines are usually located on the face of the template, the template is transparent, in order for the reference points or lines on the transfer sheet to be seen by the user in order to line them up.
There exists a need for a stencil template which provides the user with a variety of edges for guiding a writing or cutting instrument. There exists a further need for positioning a template on a transfer sheet so as to permit an outer or interior edge of the template to be placed in a pre-determined position relative to the transfer sheet.